China is growing economically at an alarming rate. Today, Monday, China has just become the worlds second largest economy overtaking Japan. The president of Colombia said he is planning to build a transnational railway (which will be built by china). This will boost the trade between the two countries. In addition China’s interest in Africa is increasing. China is expanding their trade to Africa and slowly weeding out the Western influence. Should we be concerned? What will the side effects of China weeding the west out be?
This blog is meant to be a space for the Austin College community to discuss issues related to China and the Chinese language. For author permissions, please write to Dr. Jennifer Thackston Johnson: jtj.at.ac –at- gmail.com. Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas.
Why should the west be worried? If one country suceeds it will be able to drive the quality of products from other countries upward. Competition is a part of capitalism. The United States and other western countries advocated for this kind of economic system, going to great lenghts to secure this economic freedom, even to the point of fighting wars. What now? The west got its point across, wh complain now when it is working so well?
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ReplyDeleteHonestly, if this were a perfect world China would be the richest nation in the world. The largest collection of people should have the most money. Even though it is now the second richest country in the world its GPA per capita is only around $7,400 USD compared to the United States’ $47,000. Over only a few short decades the People’s Republic has brought more people out of poverty than any other country in history. Standards of living across the country have risen drastically since the Mao era, and most Chinese live at standards above much of the world. This said standards of living in China have a long way to go before they reach the level of the United States or Europe. Income inequality is somewhat of a problem in China but is actually better than the United States . According to the CIA, the Gini index for China is 41.5 while the US has a ranking of 45.0. –the lower the number the more equal the income among the population, Sweden has a score of 23.0-.
ReplyDeleteIf we in the United States honestly care about the people of China, as we like to pretend we do when we force our high and mighty Western Liberal Democratic ideals down the collective throats of the world, we would do nothing to stop China’s growth. Not that we could, short of all-out war. The most important aspect for the quality of life for the people of China is economic growth. One of greatest reasons for fearing China comes from Cold War stigma and ‘concern for the rights of the people of China’. We live in a capitalist world, economic stability is the most important right. Economic stability in our world translates to the ability to live and live well. Therefore, it is imperative for China to grow economically so that the quality of life will continue to improve throughout the country.
World Gini Map:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gini_Coefficient_World_CIA_Report_2009.png
CIA Gini Rankings:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html